293. Compleyneth hir, lament for her.
298. 'Therefore display, on her behalf, some kindly feeling.'
The Complaint of Venus which formerly used to be printed as a part of this poem, is really a distinct piece. See Sect. XVIII.
V. The Parlement of Foules.
Title. Gg. has Here begynyth the parlement of Foulys; Harl. has The Parlament of Foules; Tn. has The Parlement of Briddis; Trin. has Here foloweth the parlement of Byrdes reducyd to loue, &c. We also find, at the end of the poem, such notes as these: Gg. Explicit parliamentum Auium in die sancti Valentini tentum secundum Galfridum Chaucer; Ff. Explicit parliamentum Auium; Tn. Explicit tractatus de Congregacione volucrum die Sancti Valentini; and in MS. Arch. Seld. B. 24—Here endis the parliament of foulis Quod Galfride Chaucere.
1. Part of the first aphorism of Hippocrates is—Ὁ βίος βραχύς, ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρή. This is often quoted in the Latin form—Ars longa, uita brevis. Longfellow, in his Psalm of Life, well renders it by—'Art is long, but life is fleeting.'
2. Several MSS. transpose hard and sharp; it is of small consequence.
3. Slit, the contracted form of slideth, i. e. passes away; cf. 'it slit awey so faste,' Can. Yeom. Tale; C. T., Group G, l. 682. The false reading flit arose from mistaking a long s for f.
4. By, with respect to. In l. 7, wher = whether.